Race 1000 Miles Adventure, day #7 – How I escaped from Slovakia

Finally, I left Slovakia. I can’t say it was ugly, but they pay by euros, on their signs is some weird font and home is home. I didn’t know that time that I will taste ambience of the music festival.

Finally, I left Slovakia. I can’t say it was an unpleasant visit, but they pay in euro, use a weird font on their city limit signs and home is home.

I have to say that I chose a terrible place to sleep … how could I have possibly done that? There was no flat surface and I kept sliding down to the river all night. Why I didn’t I find a better place? Well … I was really tired yesterday, disappointed, it was dark, so I just laid down, where I was.

It was so cold in the morning that I wasn’t even able to get out of my sleeping bag. After I woke up, I waited for the sunrise. I hoped it will warm me up a little bit. After an hour I was able to put my wet clothes back on and continue.

There was no force in the world that could make me step into that water!

I wanted to cross the river, but I didn’t think it was possible. It was still cold, so I did something that rules of the race allowed me. I found another way to the other side. It wasn’t easy at all. Some of the bridges in Trenčín were closed. I asked a random person for the right path, but he didn’t even answer me. He just stared at me. Maybe he thought that I’m an illegal immigrant or something. Anyway, I found a way and my detour took me 45 minutes. It wasn’t so bad after all.

Because my last dinner was only two bread rolls, I went to the first shop I saw. I made a big purchase (they accepted credit cards) including a cake. With a new weight in my belly I was ready to continue. The route was heading to the hills, but it wasn’t so bad.

The problem was elsewhere. I totally broke my gearing. I was breathing heavily. I got off my bike and started trying to fix the issue somehow. Fortunately, it happened in village Dolná Súča, which was filled with skilled mechanicals. I was feeling like in the depot of Formula 1. With their help, I was able to continue.

An invasion to the Czech republic

It wasn’t easy in the forest on the border of Slovakia … I didn’t understand, what my navigation was doing to me. I couldn’t find a road, so I was pushing the bike through bushes. At least there weren’t any bears. Well … so they told me.

And suddenly Slovakia was behind my back. It was a nice vacation, but I was pleased that I’m in my own country now. I like Czech crowns. For that seven days, I didn’t fully understand, what they are doing with those thousands and thousands of cents. To my own surprise, I was at Javorník. I learned about this mountain at school! But the name was all I knew about it…

Just ride

At the beginning I was excited. I took photos of everything and wrote stories on Twitter. But it was far far behind me. The long time in a bike seat teached me to focus on one thing – just ride a little further. In the worst moments I was humming an old Czech song: “Měla babka, čtyři jabka …” and my new favourite that I learned in Slovakia: “Old autobateriiiiiies, We are buying autobateriiiiiies, old autobateriiiiiies. Skins, skins, we are buying skins…” I thought that in that moment, insanity started to settle in. I was pleased that I didn’t meet anyone in that state of mind.

I didn’t even remember, how the path continued. I made it to a hill, where there was a small chapel and I decided to have a short rest here. I heard music. I figured out by chance that I was close to Vizovice, where there was the music festival Masters Of Rock. When I was crossing this town, most of the people were wasted.

I was a little worried to leave my bike alone. Opportunity makes thieves. And it pays double, if the thieves are drunk. But the bike was where I left it, so I could eat something in peace. I wanted to make at least a few kilometres, so I continued. I didn’t want to sleep in a forest, because I know how scary it could be. I slept on the first meadow I saw in Vizovické vrchy. I was looking forward to a tomorrow’s flat terrain of the Czech republic.